Social networking is big business in the internet economy. Two of the largest players in the U.S. and global social networking world are MySpace and Facebook. Facebook was once the new kid on the block up against the established MySpace, but that had now drastically changed.

According to the most recent data from ComScore, Facebook is now quickly outpacing MySpace in the number of users. Adage reports that in June of 2008 the two social networking sites were the same size in terms of unique users.

Since June of last year, Facebook has started pulling swiftly away from MySpace in terms of users with Facebook posting growth of 10 percent per month as MySpace stays the same in terms of traffic.

Facebook now claims 200 million unique users to MySpace's 100 million according to Adage. The glut of the growth Facebook has experienced comes from countries other than America. MySpace is quick to point out that while Facebook has outpaced it in unique visitors, it still sells more ads.

MySpace issued a statement saying, "We are laser focused on building a sustainable global business which we measure by profits and revenue -- not just eyeballs. In a tough economic climate, our international revenue is up 30% year over year and we continue to focus on those markets with the strong monetization opportunities. Additionally, MySpace continues to dominate the U.S. market -- where the bulk of online advertising revenues reside -- both in terms of monetization and user engagement with more than 76 million unique users and a 40% spike in engagement year over year."

Adage also notes that if you take the latest ComScore data showing about a billion global Internet users, the 200 million users of Facebook equates to about one in every five Internet users visiting the site. Last year Facebook was looking for a new home after growing so much its facility was too small.

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